


Lingering Truths

by Diana_Prallon



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Bad Flirting, Betrayal, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Heartbreak, POV Second Person, Platonic Relationships, Post-Betrayal, Rishi (Star Wars), Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan, frustrated feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:53:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23261275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diana_Prallon/pseuds/Diana_Prallon
Summary: After Marr and Satele left the hutt, the Sith Inquisitor is left behind to try and deal with Theron and Lana, when neither wants to give an inch.A lot of frustrated feelings.
Relationships: Lana Beniko/Female Sith Inquisitor, Lana Beniko/Male Sith Inquisitor, Lana Beniko/Sith Inquisitor, Lana Beniko/Theron Shan, Theron Shan/Sith Inquisitor
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Lingering Truths

**Author's Note:**

> Unchecked by anyone and typed while juggling a toddler, so, whatever mistakes blablabla.  
> I don't own anyone, even if I have a bunch of SIs. Should work for both Male and Female SI -- and while I don't particularly think it should change, I wrote thinking of a Darth Occulus, though I think it should work for others.

If anyone had ever asked you before, you’d have said that if you could deal with the bickering of the Dark Council, you could deal with anything – big, loud personalities that believed they knew better than the other and could never give an inch without being killed or else – but you think the Dark Council would’ve been much, much easier to deal with than the tension inside your little base of operations once Marrs and Satele Shan left the building.

Perhaps because you never cared that much about your fellow councillors, and, in spite of everything, this little ragtag band made you care, in a way you hadn’t in a long time – since before you ascended to the council, really.

It’s no surprise that C2-D4 was the first to speak, keeping him silent was challenging in the best of times, and in moments of stress, he couldn’t shut up. Empire and Republic might have left the room, but their animosity wasn’t nearly as raw or intense as the one left behind.

“That went surprisingly well, I think,” the droid offered, and you nodded, in want of something better to do.

“Yeah,” Theron replied, a hurt and sarcastic tone to his voice that made you roll your eyes. “It’s nice to see the Empire and Republic can work together without stabbing each other in the back.”

You had never expected him to simple drop the subject, and there were marks in his face and body to remind them he was still a little worse for the wear after his meeting with the revanites. It reminded you of days and nights you rather forget, the marks you’ve been hiding since before Korriban. Had Lana, growing up as she did, privileged, ever truly felt what it was like to be utterly in someone’s mercy, knowing herself to be unable to lash back at all?

It was a hard thing, being vulnerable. It left marks even when scars faded. Not something you’d wish on someone you kept close for so long.

“It was the right move, arranging for your capture,” Lana said, and no one had ever accused the Sith of being empaths. “We have succeeded, haven’t we?”

It’s at once such an incredibly “Sith” thing to say and so naïve that it makes you grin. That, right there, was the reason why the Empire was losing the war to begin with – laser focus and no consideration for how ties could strengthen the whole. She could be so much more, if only she could rise above dogma and think for herself. The potential was there, you knew it, you had felt it in the surge of guilt and relief she had shown when you and Theron walked back after his torture, even if her words said the opposite now. You wanted to see her blossom into more, you wanted to break her out of her mould – but Theron’s rage was simmering and his control slipping, burning as his skin and implants had burnt under interrogation.

“Unbelivable. Where’s the trust? Huh?” he asked, and you wonder if Lana could even see that he had less of an issue with being tortured for the good of the mission than with her doing things behind his back. “Did it go wander off someplace, or was it never there to start with?”

You had wondered about it, more than once, about how could they have accomplished so much so soon after meeting – how had they trusted each other beyond the gap of Republic and Empire, and now it seemed like a wider chasm than it had back in Manaan.

It would get in the way of everything, and you didn’t have the time for the nonsense – very human as it was.

“With all that is going on around us, we have to be able to trust each other,” you told Lana, wondering just how far you’d need to go to drive your point home. “You own Theron an apology.”

Lana pouted, looking away from you, at once an arrogant Sith and a spoiled little girl with golden eyes, her arms crossed against her body.

“At the risk of seeming egotistical,” she answered, as if ever a Sith had worried about with thing, “I will not apologize for being right.”

You had been called many things since Korriban – merciful, cruel, mostly _mad_ – but one thing no one had ever said was that you were patient. There is no peace, there is only passion, and that called lightening to your fingertips, making your hands crackle even as you stood still. You looked right into her eyes, suddenly lit up with lust, before speaking.

“Do it.”

For a moment, you thought she would protest – and you wanted her to do it, old lessons coming back quickly, wanting to keep her in line with your own will, wanted to pull her close and force her down with lightening while she fought against you for dominance, until she could see how useless it all was if she would insist on old ways, you wanted to be forced to seduce her to your point of view with words and hands until she begged you – but the principle of obedience asserted it self and she relented. It disappointed you, a little.

“Theron…” her voice was low and intimate and made something inside you rumble. “I recognize that I betrayed your trust, and, for that, I am sorry.”

It was conditional, but it was also what really mattered. You wanted to push the point, but Jakarro had other ideas.

“I say enough of this,” he grunted, and you suffered to try and understand the language as always. “We need to focus on the Revanites.”

Quite easy for the furball to say it when it wasn’t him to was burning with desire, unspent and unattended.

“Isn’t there… Anything else you wanted first?” Theron asked, looking at you with something like hope, and you consider it for a second before Lana joins in.

“Yes, will that be all?”

You looked at the two of them, wondering just how far you could take it, how far you could string it along and play it for double the winnings… And, maybe, later you would try it, but, for now, it would be better to press your advantage.

“Theron,” you said, his name vibrating from your throat with sensuality and desire, and you see him lit up, with gives you a jolt of pleasure even as you let him down. This should be easy – later. “Help Jakarro ready his ship for departure. Lana and I have unfinished business.”

There was very little that couldn’t be implied from your tone, and you could see the images forming themselves in Theron’s head and making him flush with – want? Embarrassment? But he fought to keep him semblance closed off and his tone uncommitting, while Lana stood up and walked away, to the back of the hut.

“Yeah, sure. C’mon, Jakarro. Let’s let them…” You sighed, licking your lips, while his voice trailed off. “Do whatever.”

Lana was looking away from you both, as if she, too, were embarrassed by the whole thing and, not for the first time, you wondered just what exactly the two of them had been doing alone for months in Rishi.

It was but a small matter, of course, easily wiped away. Lust in close confinement was like the sea moving against the land – inevitable, but unsteady and easily changeable.

“Your cavalier phrasing does not appear to match your flustered demeanour, Agent Shan…” You heard the droid say as they walked away, and you moved to stand by the door, giving Lana a moment to ready herself before you spoke again.

You turned to find her leaning against the main console of the room, where not so long ago, you had first discussed the whole pirate fantasy. Away from Shan & the others, she looked sad and haunted and it gave you a moment’s pause.

“What’s on your mind?”, you asked, and she answered as someone who had been thinking about it for a long time now.

“Some truths, they linger more than others,” she started, clearly having worked out her phrasing in her mind, polishing words to get the desired effect. You just watched, waiting. “Like how friendship isn’t easy to come by,” she said, and you nodded, but she continued, ignoring you. “How trust is far more rare,” and, of course, trusting was a perilous game to play when you were a sith, you knew it far too well. “Theron trusted me, and I don’t think he ever will again.”

You thought back on those people you had trusted and that had betrayed you – Zash, Thanathos, so many others. You thought about the very few people you cared enough to trust – Andronikus, Ashara, even Talos – and you wondered how empty life would feel if you had to let go of them, to lose them. You didn’t know if you could bear it – and you wouldn’t wish it on another. You certainly wouldn’t wish it on Lana.

You were not always a person for comforting, but you care about Lana enough to try it.

“If he knew how painful this has been for you, he might.”

Lana glanced at you, and then away.

“That would mean letting my guard down,” she told you, and her voice was soft as a feather, but it cut down your desire faster than any laser. “I don’t think I could ever do that, not fully. Not with Theron.”

This gave you a pause, a second to wonder how this conversation had wandered so far from your intended purpose – to seduce her, to have her, to tie her to you somehow – but it is quite obvious. Lana is accomplished in many ways, but it is obvious that whatever she knows of passion has never gone past the flesh. She spoke of not letting her guard down, and you wonder when she would realise she had already done the worst of it. Whatever she said, it was clear that Theron Shan had gotten under her skin in a way that make you wish for something like that – something that would move worlds.

“When all this is over, if we survive, we’ll be back to working at cross purposes,” she continued, oblivious to the irony of her star-crossed unspoken love. “I know there is no other way.”

You look at her, wondering if you should point out the obvious to her, but she doesn’t stop her little speech.

“It’s like when we first met. I knew out fates were going to be intertwined completely. I’ve tried to maintain my poise. Deny my senses – but I can’t. Not anymore.”

She’s looking down, blushing, and it is everything you had been wanting to hear… Except it feels stale. You wonder at it, at the conflicting emotions, because it is obvious that she _wants_ you, you can feel it, but at the same time…

“What are you trying to say, Lana?” you asked, and she stepped ahead, coming in for a kiss.

Your lips touched hers and you felt your blood go on fire – you can feel her responding to you, and it _is_ there, the heat of something… But it lacks a spark, and you thought you knew why.

Nice hair, green eyes, facial implants and a indiscreet jacket.

No, you knew what this was – the lust and desire, the pull that your power exerted on her, a minor Sith Lord, so used to looking up for more. You know the type of connection, the explosive, star-melting, untamed fire that could come of you two giving in to your passions without a care in the world.

You knew, too, it burnt bright and easy, too quickly to last.

Meanwhile, hidden and unspoken, the spark would remain, a desire Lana would feel she could not indulge or acknowledge.

You pulled away from her, and her smile was of a girl smitten, star-struck, thinking of what she might have gotten. Your heart broke, all over again, for you, her, and everything that was not as easy as it could seen when, in your heart, you were as young and Lana Beniko.

“It’s true what they say,” she commented, happily. “Patience has its own reward.”

You wanted her, but you wanted so much more than her easy desire.

You wanted her – to forge, to hold, to _love_.

And that, you knew, right at that kiss, you’d never have all to yourself.

“We should go now,” is all you can think to say, and Lana blabbers on about Yavin and Revan when you wonder when did you grow soft enough to let go of what you want in the name of other’s.

You have never been one for half-measures. It’s all or nothing with you, and this is no different. You won’t play second fiddle to the feelings they can’t face.

You know she will not thank you for it, not anytime soon, maybe never.

All you can hope is that you’re doing the best.

Your heart can wait.

**Author's Note:**

> So these days I was running Rishi on my newest SI (who never did class story but I digress) and I had long decided she'd be my Imperial Romancing Lana (as I had none), but, what was my surprise when I reached the damn flirting scene to find her gushing about Theron! I mean, excuse me, lady, you do sound like you're in love, but not with me! And then the whole over-the-top, over-sweet gushing she did to my character was like... Huh, sure? If you say so? I don't see it? Anyway, it did give me a lot of warm Lana/Theron feelings and some frustration and this is the result.
> 
> The dialogue was copied straight from my printscreens!


End file.
